A Brief History of Pom-Poms
The first known pom-pom was found on a statue on a farm in Sweden in 1904. The statue, of the Viking God Freyr, dates from approximately 900AD and is wearing a hat or helmet with a pom-pom on the top.
The word pom-pom comes from the French word, Pompon.
The French army used different pom-poms on hats to convey rank.
Hats worn by highly ranked Catholic priests had pom-poms on them and were called Birettas.
Traditional Scottish dress included a floppy beret called the Balmoral Bonnet with a bright red pom-pom on the top.
Sailors wear pom-poms on the tops of their hats, aka duck caps, to protect their heads when navigating tight spaces on board a ship.
And, of course, there are the kinds of pom-poms most of us are most familiar with: pop-poms that cheerleaders use or pom-poms that adorn the tops of winter hats.
Now You Know! Thanks for reading.
Photo Credits:
- Freyr statue photo by Gabriel Hildebrand, Statens historiska museum. CC BY 2.5.
- Biret photo by MK777 via Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 1.0.
- Balmoral Bonnet courtesy Claymore Imports.
- Sailor Cap photo courtesy The Beret Project.
- Egg cozy hat by Mushushu. CC BY-SA 4.0.